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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Sunday Morning Musings

Good morning. For this week's edition of Sunday Morning Musings I thought I would open a discussion about time or perhaps the lack thereof. Since I tend to lean towards the creepy and I wanted a photo for this post that would represent something to do with time, I thought that I would choose the hour of great significance for more than one occupant of the large colonial at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, Long Island. I believe you know the place.

All of us fill our days or perhaps I should say, have them filled for us, so how do we manage everything that is important to us? Now, we could talk of our families, work, housework, etc., but for the sake of this question, I am only asking about writing and reading.

For me, once you subtract eleven hours of work, housework and shuttling kids around, that only leaves so much time for writing, reading, blogging and updating websites.

Daily: I check my personal e-mail several times per day. Typically, I hear from my publisher, Gaynor, The Wonderful, every couple of weeks. Also, this instantly allows me to know whether anything of importance has occurred on Facebook or Vamplit Writers, etc., etc. I then head over to Facebook and check both my profile, as well as my Official Authors Page. Lastly, I usually check this blog to see whether there might be any new activity or followers.

Weekly: I have been posting a new blog once a week, so far. Typically I do this sometime Saturday or early Sunday morning. Once a week I usually set about across the Blogosphere, looking to get my name out there a little more, to look for blogs that might be mutual beneficial or simply just interest to me.

Monthly: It's sad for me to admit, but I haven't been doing much in terms of writing as of late. I have Dance on Fire's sequel in the can, as it were, so I have been focusing all of my time on doing the whole publicity thing for book one. I have two small points of research that I need to do for the book two, but they are extremely minor, so I am not stressing over them. I actually wrote the scenes, I simply need to revisit the actual locations to make sure that my details were accurate. The other sad fact is how I haven't been reading as often as I would like. Until I take the e-reader plunge, I must sit at the pc which is in my living room and attempt to read, listening to classical music in headphones in hopes of drowning out the kid and television noise. I am currently reading Andrew M. Boylan's, Concilium Sanguinarius. It is very good, but since I don't have a lot of time for reading, it is taking me forever. I am attempting to become more efficient with my time now that I have grown accustomed to how things play out. I have a couple of hardbacks on my bookshelf that I have yet to read: Pat Conroy's, South of Broad and Patricia Cornwell's, The Scarpetta Factor.

So, now I ask you, how do you do it? Perhaps it is mostly because I have only been doing this since February. Does it get any easier? Will there always be a struggle within me to find the time necessary for all of these pursuits? It seems to me that some people must never sleep (Wendy Howard, Gaynor Stenson and Nicole Hadaway come to mind). So, for anyone interested in leaving a comment, I would be curious to see how you juggle things like Blogging, reading and writing. Perhaps you simply would like to share what your days and weeks look like. That would be okay, too. I would love to hear it.

5 comments:

I'm believe it will always be a juggling act—sometimes it is stressful, but my mind likes the challenge.

I'm always working on multiple projects: my second book, which takes the back burner more often than it should, short stories I submit for the net and print, articles I write for Helium's Marketplace, and blogs, in which there are about four I attend at least weekly.

The key for me is to know what is important at the moment—some projects can't and shouldn't wait—but to not lose sight of my long-term goals either.

As far as time, I have set hours during the day that I write, and I won't even answer my phone during that time. Then I get a few short bursts here and there, some evenings/or early mornings—and I limit my blog time to a half hour everyday...that is the biggest distraction as I could skip around the net for a few hours too easily.

Hi, James! I'm very happy to have you join my blogsite, and wanted to come and join yours.

As for the writing--or we were talking about time--what time????

I have no children, but I do hold down a full time job that takes me away from the house for nine hours--travel time included. My husband and I get up at 4AM to drive transit buses. By the time we get back home we feel pretty beat up. We drive for a college, and you're attention has to be racheted up the whole 7 hourse of driving.

I've been writing for 30+ years. Does it get any easier? Yes and no. You begin to develope this writing "muscle" where if you have a scene or plot problem, if you sleep on it, the answer will come. It's like there's a writing angel out there (muse?), who whispers in your ear and you think-AHAH! Pay attention to it, and it will guide you well (and keep a mini recorder handy. YOu can't write things down fast enough.

No, because you have no time to do it all.

I've got a writing blog in a couple of spots. You might want to swing by them, check them out. one is http://loreleibell.wordpress.com/The other one is @ AuthorNation, under "Lorelei". This is a writing community. I wouldn't suggest joining, unless you feel you need to, because again, it can bog down your time. But I'm there, my blogs usually have something about writing.

Thanks, Lorelei. It's nice to meet you. That's really great insight; the whole writing muscle concept. That explains exactly how I have described it to others. I'll be sure and tell others, and then give you the credit for it!! Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate you taking the time. I'll get back to you here or on one of the other social networks. It's not like we're not on all of them, right? ;) Also, if you're here to give me an award - bless you. However, your friendship and visits are more than enough. Thanks and blessings.